Image forming apparatus for forming an image on an image receiving medium carried by a conveyor belt

ABSTRACT

An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image carriers on each of which an image is formed, a conveyor belt for carrying an image receiving medium, a driving roller on which the conveyor belt is mounted for driving the conveyor belt to convey the image receiving medium and a pressing roller for pressing the conveyor belt against the driving roller. The images formed on the image carriers are transferred seguentially to the image receiving medium conveyed by the conveyor belt. A tensioning member causes the conveyor belt to skid to maintain proper relative positioning of the components.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to image forming apparatus which form images on an image receiving medium using a plurality of photosensitive drums such as a color copying machine, etc.

2. Description of the Related Art

There is a color copying machine comprising four photosensitive drums arranged parallelly. In this type of copying machine, four photosensitive drums are arranged parallelly and toner images in different colors are formed on the respective photosensitive drums using yellow, magenta, cyanic and black toners. Each of these toner images is transferred and formed on a single sheet of paper.

In the color copying machine using these four photosensitive drums, an image receiving medium placed on a conveyor belt is brought in contact with the four photosensitive drums one by one and respective toner images are transferred from the drums onto the image receiving medium.

Further, when forming an image other than color images, for instance, forming a black image only, no toner image is formed on the yellow, magenta and cyanic drums and a black toner image is formed and transferred onto an image receiving medium. Thus, an image only in black is obtained.

However, a conveyor belt is normally wound around driving rollers comprising rubber rollers and is moved by rotating the driving rollers. The largest reason for using rubber rollers is to prevent the conveyor belt from slipping against the driving rollers by making the coefficient of statical friction of the rubber rollers with the conveyor belt large.

Because, if the conveyor belt slips against the driving rollers, the moving distances of copying papers being conveyed by the conveyor belt changes, causing a color shift on the image receiving medium in the conveying direction. That is, in order to prevent the conveyor belt from slipping against the driving rollers, it is desirable to use soft rubber rollers with hardness of rubber lowered.

However, if a rubber roller is used, accuracy of the outer diameter of the driving roller drops and the more soft a rubber roller is, more worse the accuracy of the outer diameter of the driving roller will become. If accuracy of the outer diameter of the driving roller drops, the peripheral speed of the roller changes, making the conveying speed of the conveyor belt irregular and finally, a color shift is caused on copying papers in the conveying direction.

When a conveyor belt is used for a long time, its surface becomes dirty as toners and paper powder of the image receiving medium attach thereon and therefore, the conveyor belt is cleaned with a belt cleaning device. However, this conveyor belt cleaning device cleans a belt by bringing a rubber blade in contact with the surface of the conveyor belt and a material having a high contact resistance against a rubber blade is used as the conveyor belt. Therefore, when a conveyor belt is rubbed by a rubber blade of a belt cleaning device which is kept in contact with the conveyor belt, electric charge is left. Unless this residual electric charge is neutralized the residual potential of the conveyor belt becomes high and images are not satisfactorily transferred on the image receiving medium. Furthermore, a problem is also caused that ozone is generated if a corona discharger is used to neutralize the residual electric charge.

In this type of image forming apparatus, there was a problem that the conveying speed of a conveyor belt becomes irregular as its peripheral speed changes if the accuracy of the outer diameter of driving rollers drop and as a result, a color shift of images on an image receiving medium may be caused along the conveying direction of the image receiving medium.

Further, as described above, the image receiving medium is conveyed toward four photosensitive drums by a conveyor belt. However, if the conveyor belt is moved while meandering unwillingly, the image receiving medium is also conveyed while meandering correspondingly and there was a problem that the same images in different colors will be shifted as the images in different colors are transferred sequentially on the image receiving medium as a result of the meandering conveyance.

In order to solve this problem, a regulation plate is provided at both ends of the rollers over which a conveyor belt is put as disclosed in the Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication (JITSU-KAI-HEI) 4-7543. The conveyor belt is moved while keeping its both ends in contact with these regulation plates to prevent the conveyor belt from meandering.

In this construction, however, if a distance between two regulation plates provided at the rollers is not in accord with the width of a conveyor belt, a problem described below will be caused. That is, there will be a problem that at a place where the distance between two control plates is wide, it is possible for the conveyor belt to meander and at a place where the distance between two control plates is narrow, the conveyor belt may possibly run over one of the regulation plates and as a result, a color shift will be caused on images on the image receiving medium along the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the image receiving medium.

Further, in a conventional image forming apparatus, the rollers are rotated by transmitting the turning force of a motor to one of the rollers having parallel shafts over which a conveyor belt is put and a conveying force is provided by moving the conveyor belt in the rotating direction of the rollers. There was a problem that if the moving speed of the conveyor belt becomes irregular, it is not possible to transfer images from four photosensitive drums at a prescribed position and as a result, a color shift is caused on images on the image receiving medium. In view of this problem, construction to use driving rollers directly as the rotary shaft of a motor without using driving transmission gears, etc. which may cause irregular moving speed of a conveyor belt. That is, a driving roller and a motor are in one united body. There are a belt cleaner, photosensitive drums, image transfer rollers, etc. arranged while kept in contact with this conveyor belt along its surface. These arrangements, however, will become loads when driving the conveyor belt. Further, when processing jammed image receiving medium, the conveyor belt is separated from the state in contact with the photosensitive drums and pulled out of the body of the apparatus. Because of this construction, in order to pull out the conveyor belt easily it is necessary to lower the belt to a location where the motor does not come in contact with the photosensitive drums.

On the other hand, in order to drive a conveyor belt while overcoming loads, a motor needs a large torque. Generally, a motor large in size is used to improve its torque. However, because a roller and a motor for driving the conveyor belt are in one united body as described above, if a large motor is used, it becomes necessary to further lower the conveyor belt to prevent the photosensitive drums and the motor from contacting each other when processing jammed image receiving medium. Thus, there comes out a problem that the entire image forming apparatus will become large in size.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus which does not cause a color shift of images along the conveying direction of an image receiving medium.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus which does not become large in size even when a motor generating a large torque is used for driving rollers over which a conveyor belt is put.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus which does not cause a color shift of images along the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of an image receiving medium.

According to the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising means for forming images on a plurality of image carriers, a conveyor belt for carrying an image receiving medium, a driving roller on which the conveyor belt is mounted for driving the conveyor belt to convey the image receiving medium, a pressing roller for pressing the conveyor belt against the driving roller, and means for transferring the images from the image carriers to the image receiving medium conveyed by the conveyor belt.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising means for forming images on a plurality of image carriers, a conveyor belt for carrying an image receiving medium, a plurality of rollers on which the conveyor belt is mounted for moving the conveyor belt to convey the image receiving medium sequentially to the image carriers, an outer rotor type motor having a rotated outer housing provided to one of the rollers for driving the conveyor belt to move the conveyor belt by a friction of the rotated outer housing with the conveyor belt, and means for transferring the images from the image carriers to the image receiving medium conveyed by the conveyor belt.

Yet further, according to the present inventions, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising means for forming images on a plurality of image carriers; a conveyor belt having a first peripheral edge and a second peripheral edge opposing to the first peripheral edge for carrying an image receiving medium, the conveyor belt having a first length L1 at the first peripetal edge and a second length L2 at the second peripheral edge shorter than the first length L1; a plurality of rollers on which the conveyor belt is mounted for moving the conveyor belt to convey the image receiving medium sequentially to the image carriers; a tensioning means for giving a tension to the conveyor belt so as to skid the conveyor belt toward the second peripheral edge when the conveyor belt is moved by the rolleres; a regulation member for regulating the skid of the conveyor belt; and means for transferring the images from the image carriers to the image receiving medium conveyed by the conveyor belt.

Still further, according to the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising means for forming images on a plurality of image carriers, a conveyor belt for carrying an image receiving medium, a plurality of rollers on which the conveyor belt is mounted for moving the conveyor belt to convey the image receiving medium sequentially to the image carriers, the rollers including at least one tensioning roller having a contact surface non-parallel to a remaining roller for giving a tension to the conveyor belt so as to skid the conveyor belt toward one end of the rollers when the conveyor belt is moved, a regulation member for regulating the skid of the conveyor belt, and means for transferring the images from the image carriers to the image receiving medium conveyed by the conveyor belt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an outline diagram of full color image forming apparatus according to the present invention applied;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a conveying means using a pinch roller showing the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the conveying means using the pinch roller shown in FIG. 2:

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the conveying means using the pinch roller showing the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the conveying means using the pinch roller shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the conveying means using a winding roller showing the third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a front view of the conveying means using the winding roller shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the conveying means using a winding roller showing the fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a front view of the conveying means using the winding roller shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the conveying means with a discharging roller provided showing the fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a prespective view of the conveying means with the discharging roller shown in FIG. 10 provided as the pinch roller shown in the first embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the sixth embodiment of the present invention less a part of the conveying means which is its essential part;

FIG. 13 is a graph showing a test result of difference in peripheral lengths and amount of skid movement of the conveyor belt;

FIG. 14 is a graph showing a test result of weighing and skid amount of the conveyor belt;

FIG. 15A through 15C are cross-sectional views showing the positional relation between the conveyor belt and the regulation belt;

FIG. 16 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the sixth embodiment is not adopted;

FIG. 17 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the sixth embodiment is adopted;

FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing the seventh embodiment of the present invention less a part of the conveying means which is its essential part;

FIG. 19 is a plan view of the seventh embodiment less a part of the conveying means;

FIG. 20 is a perspective view for explaining the skid movement of the conveyor belt in the seventh embodiment;

FIG. 21 is a front view for explaining the size and tapered state of a tapered roller used in the seventh embodiment;

FIG. 22 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the seventh embodiment is not adopted;

FIG. 23 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the seventh embodiment is adopted;

FIG. 24 is a perspective view showing the eighth embodiment less a part of the conveying means which is its essential part.

FIG. 25 is a plan view showing the eighth embodiment less a part of the conveying means;

FIG. 26 is a perspective view for explaining the skid movement of the conveyor belt in the eighth embodiment;

FIG. 27 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the eighth embodiment is not adopted;

FIG. 28 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the eighth embodiment is adopted;

FIG. 29 is a perspective view showing the ninth embodiment of the present invention less a part of the conveying means which is its essential part;

FIGS. 30A through 30C are cross-sectional views showing the positional relation of the conveyor belt and the regulation plate;

FIG. 31 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the ninth embodiment is not adopted;

FIG. 32 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the ninth embodiment is adopted;

FIG. 33 is a perspective view showing the tenth embodiment of the present invention less a part of the conveying means which is its essential part;

FIG. 34 is a perspective view showing the eleventh embodiment of the present invention less a part of the conveying means which is its essential part;

FIG. 35 is a perspective view showing the twelfth embodiment of the present invention less a part of the conveying means which is its essential part;

FIG. 36 is a perspective view for explaining the skid movement of the conveyor belt in the twelfth embodiment;

FIG. 37 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the twelfth embodiment is not adopted;

FIG. 38 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the twelfth embodiment is adopted;

FIG. 39 is a perspective view showing the thirteenth embodiment less a part of the conveying means which is its essential part;

FIG. 40 is a perspective view for explaining the skid movement of the conveyor belt in the thirteenth embodiment;

FIG. 41 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the thirteenth embodiment is not adopted;

FIG. 42 is a graph showing the state of skid movement of the conveyor belt when the construction of the thirteenth embodiment is adopted;

FIG. 43 is an outline diagram of full-color image forming apparatus showing the fourteenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 44 is a perspective view showing the construction of the conveyor belt unit of the full-color image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 43;

FIG. 45 is an outline diagram showing the state of the conveyor belt unit separated from the photosensitive drums shown in FIG. 44;

FIG. 46 is an explanatory diagram showing Fleming's left hand rule;

FIG. 47 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of operation of a DC motor;

FIG. 48 is a diagram showing the principal construction of a stepping motor;

FIG. 49 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of operation of the stepping motor shown in FIG. 48; and

FIG. 50 is a block diagram for controlling the roller in-motor which is used in the conveyor belt unit shown in FIG. 44.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 3.

FIG. 1 shows the outline of the construction of a color copying machine as an image forming apparatus. In this color copying machine, four photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK are arranged parallelly in this order as image carriers. Above these photosensitive drums, there are four image forming units 150Y, 150M, 150C and 150BK provided correspondingly for forming images on the respective photosensitive drums. Under these photosensitive drums there is a conveying means 200 provided for conveying an image receiving mediums 8, e.g. a sheet of paper, to the photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK. Transfer rollers 5Y, 5M, 5C and 5BK are arranged corresponding to the photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK as image transfer means for transferring toner images formed on the photosensitive drums onto image receiving medium 8 conveyed by the conveying means 200.

Four sets of the image forming units 150Y, 150M, 150C and 150BK are composed of a recording unit comprising charging devices 3Y, 3M, 3C and 3BK, solid scanning heads 1Y, 1M, 1C and 1BK, developing devices 4Y, 4M, 4C and 4BK, cleaning devices 6Y, 6M, 6C and 6BK and discharging devices 7Y, 7M, 7C and 7BK respectively.

Now, a yellow image forming unit 150Y will be described. The solid scanning head 1Y outputs exposure light to the photosensitive drum 2Y according to yellow image data being sent from a printing controller (not shown). The solid scanning head 1Y is in such a construction that it has very small light emitting sections arranged at equal spaces in the direction of the axis of rotation of the photosensitive drum 2Y, that is, on the line in the main scanning direction.

Lighting of the individual light emitting sections on the line of the main scanning direction is controlled according to the on-off signals sent from a printing controller according to a pattern to be printed. A light image is exposed on the photosensitive drum 2Y corresponding to an original image from the light emitting sections on one for one basis. An LED head array of resolution 400 DPI was used for the solid scanning head 1Y.

The charging device 3Y which charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 2Y, the developer device 4Y, the transfer device 5Y, the cleaning device 6Y and the discharging device 7Y are sequentially arranged around the photosensitive drum 2Y.

The photosensitive drum 2Y is rotated and driven by a driving motor (not shown). The surface of the photosensitive drum 2Y is charged by the charging device 3Y which is composed of a conductive charging roller and provided in contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 2Y. Further, the charging roller is rotating when kept in contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 2Y.

The surface of the photosensitive drum 2Y is formed by an organic photoconductor. Normally, this photoconductor has a high resistance but has a nature to change specific resistance of a lighted portion when light is applied. When light is applied to the charged surface of the photosensitive drum 2Y from the solid scanning head 1Y corresponding to a yellow print pattern, an electrostatic latent image of the yellow image pattern is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 2Y.

The electrostatic latent image is a so-called negative latent image that is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 2Y through charging when specific resistance of the lighted surface of a photoconductor is dropped by the light applied from the solid scanning head 1Y to discharge electric charge on the surface of the photosensitive drum 2Y and on the other hand, electric charge of the portion to which no light was applied remains.

Thus, the light from the solid scanning head 1Y forms an image at an exposing positional location on the charged photosensitive drum 2Y and the photosensitive drum 2Y with a latent image formed rotates to a developing position. Then, the latent image on the photosensitive drum 2Y is turned to a toner image as a visible image, by the developing device 4Y.

The developing device 4Y contains a yellow toner containing a yellow dye formed of resin. This yellow toner is frictionally charged when stirred in the developing device 4Y and has an electric charge of the same polarity as that charged on the photosensitive drum 2Y. When the surface of the photosensitive drum 2Y passes through the developing device 4Y, the yellow toner is adhered electrostatically to the discharged latent image portion only and this latent image is developed by the yellow toner.

The photosensitive drum 2Y with the yellow toner image formed on it is rotating continuously and the yellow toner image is transferred onto the image receiving medium 8 on the conveyor belt 12, that is timely fed by the transfer device 5Y which is in the transfer position. The conveyor belt 12 is mounted on driving roller 16 and the driven roller 17. The driven roller 17 is held by the driven roller holder 21.

A paper supply means is composed of a pickup roller 9, a feed roller 10 and a register roller 11. The image receiving medium 8 taken out of a paper supply cassette 23 by the pickup roller 9 is conveyed to the register roller 11 by one sheet only by the feed roller 10. The register roller 11 feeds the image receiving medium 8 after properly correcting its position. The peripheral velocity of the register roller 11 and that of the conveyor belt 12 have been so set that they become equal to the peripheral velocity V0 of the photosensitive drum 2Y. The image receiving medium 8 is conveyed to the transfer position of the photosensitive drum 2Y together with the conveyor belt 12 at a predetermined velocity equal to that of the photosensitive drum 2Y while being partially kept by the resister roller 11.

The yellow toner image on the photosensitive drum 2Y which is kept in contact with the image receiving medium 8 is removed from the photosensitive drum 2Y and transferred onto the image receiving medium 8 by the transfer device 5Y. As a result, the yellow toner image in a print pattern based on a yellow print signal is formed on the image receiving medium 8.

The transfer device 5Y is composed of a semiconductive transfer roller. This transfer roller 5Y supplies an electric field having the polarity reverse to a potential of the yellow toner adhered statically to the photosensitive drum 2Y through the back side of the conveyor belt 12. This electric field acts on the yellow toner image on the photosensitive drum 2Y through the image receiving medium 8 and as a result, the yellow toner image is transferred onto the image receiving medium 8 from the photosensitive drum 2Y.

The image receiving medium 8 with the yellow toner image thus transferred is conveyed sequentially to a magenta image forming unit 150M, a cyanic image forming unit 150C and further to a black image forming unit 150BK.

Further, the magenta image forming unit 150M, the cyanic image forming unit 150C and the black image forming unit 150BK contain a magenta (M), cyanic (C) and black (BK) color developers, respectively, instead of a yellow (Y) developer contained in a developing device 4Y for the yellow image forming unit 150Y. As these image forming units are constructed from the same components and their operations are all the same, the explanations of these image forming units will be omitted to make the explanation simple.

Now, the image receiving medium 8 with color images formed one over another while passing through the yellow, magenta, cyanic and black transfer positions is conveyed to a fixing device 13.

The fixing device 13 is composed of a heat roller with a heater incorporated therein which fixes the toner images in various colors on the image receiving medium 8 permanently by heating and fusing the color toners. The image receiving medium 8 with the fixed image is ejected on a receiving tray 15 by the exit roller 14.

On the other hand, the photosensitive drums 2Y, 2C and 2BK in respective colors passed through the transfer positions are driven and cleaned by cleaning devices 6Y, 6M, 6C and 6BK to remove residual toners and paper powder on the drums. Further, the potentials on the surfaces of the photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK are regulated to a certain level. Then, a series of image forming processes from the charging devices 3Y, 3M, 3C and 3BK will begin.

After conveying the image receiving medium 8 to the fixing device 13, the conveyor belt 12 is cleaned by a cleaning device 22 to remove residual toners and paper powder adhered to the surface of the belt and conveys the next image receiving medium 8 when required.

Further, in the case of a unicolor print, the image forming by an image forming unit in a desired unicolor is carried out. At this time, other image forming units in colors other than the selected color do not perform their operations.

Next, a conveying means 200₁ in the first embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The conveying means 200₁ is composed of an endless conveyor belt 12₁ which is put and extended over a parallelly provided driving roller 16₁ and a driven roller 17₁ with the middle section stretched opposing to the photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK.

The driven roller 17₁ is pressed by a compression spring 18 (see FIG. 1), giving a tensile force to a conveyor belt 12₁.

The conveyor belt 12₁ is an endless type and is retained by the driving roller 16₁ at the fixing device 13 side and the driven roller 17₁ at the image receiving medium supply side. The driving roller 16₁ is given its driving force from a driving motor (not shown) and is driven so that a prescribed peripheral velocity of the photosensitive drum becomes equal to that of the belt.

On the other hand, the driven roller 17₁ has a mechanism at both sides of the roller, which makes the roller movable in the direction parallel to the image receiving medium conveying direction. That is, the driven roller 17₁ is pressed in the direction opposite to the image receiving medium conveying direction by the compression spring 18 to give a tensile force to the conveyor belt 12₁. The mechanism of the driven roller 17₁ which makes it possible to move in the direction parallel to the image receiving medium conveying direction is composed of a slot (not shown) provided on the frame and a driven roller holder (not shown) which slides in the slot and makes the driven roller 17₁ rotatable.

The driving roller 16₁ uses a roller with urethane rubber having a radial thickness of 1 mm baked to a metallic roller. The reason for using rubber on the surface is to prevent the conveyor belt 12₁ from slipping on the driving roller 16₁. As described above, the image receiving medium 8 is conveyed to four photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK by the conveyor belt 12₁ and images on the respective drums are transferred onto the image receiving medium 8. As the image receiving medium 8 is moved by the same distance as the conveyor belt 12₁, if a slip is caused between the conveyor belt 12₁ and the driving roller 16₁, the image receiving medium 8 is forced to stay in a delayed position from a position where it is originally to be. This will cause the color shift on the images transferred one over another on the image receiving medium 8.

The use of the rubber type driving roller 16₁ increases a coefficient of static friction with the conveyor belt 12₁. To further increase its reliability, it is only necessary to increase the static friction coefficient. That is, it is needed to make a rubber soft and increase its thickness.

Further, it is needed to increase a contact pressure to the driving roller 16₁ by increasing a tensile force of the conveyor belt 12₁. However, when a rubber is made soft and its thickness is increased, manufacturing accuracy of the roller drops. As described previously, the image receiving medium 8 is conveyed by the conveyor belt 12₁. If accuracy of the outer diameter of the driving roller 16₁ is bad, a difference will be caused in the peripheral velocity of the conveyor belt 12₁ and that of the peripheral surface of the driving roller 16₁ according to which the belt is moved.

That is, coarse accuracy of the outer diameter of the driving roller 16₁ means that a radial size at a first position in the axial direction of the driving roller 16₁ is different from that at a second position. The driving roller 16₁ is rotated by a driving force transmitted through its shaft and the rotating peripheral velocity differs at the first and second position of which radial sizes differ each other. The conveying velocity of the conveyor belt 12₁ which is wound around and first position is also different from that of the second position. A difference in these conveying velocities causes the color shift of the transferred images.

Therefore, a roller which has the accurate outer diameter and a large coefficient of static friction with the conveyor belt 12₁ is desirable as a driving roller. Generally, a rubber roller is inferior to a metallic roller when viewed from accuracy of the outer diameter. On the other hand, when viewed from coefficient of static friction, a rubber roller is superior to a metallic roller.

A metallic roller is used for the driving roller 16₁ and the driven roller 17₁ uses a metallic roller on which the conveyor belt 12₁ is mounted. A pinch roller 25₁ composed of a rubber roller is pressed against the driving roller 16₁ at the fixed position from the outside of the conveyor belt 12₁ so that the conveyor belt 12₁ is wound around the driving roller 16₁ at a winding angle above 180°.

FIG. 2 shows a prespective view of a system using the pinch roller 25₁ and FIG. 3 shows its front view. Both ends of the shaft of the pinch roller 25₁ are fixed to a bearing 26₁ in the rotatable state. This bearing 26₁ is put into a slot 28₁ of the pinch roller holder 27₁. This slot 28₁ is provided in a state where the direction of the driving roller 16₁ becomes long. Therefore, the pinch roller 25₁ is movable in the direction to come in contact with/separate from the driving roller 16₁ while rotating.

A tension spring 29₁ is hooked on this bearing 26₁ in the direction to apply a pressure to the rotation shaft of the driving roller. A tension spring 30₁ is hooked on the pinch roller holder 27₁ in the direction to have the pinch roller 25₁ press the conveyor belt 12₁ inward. Therefore, the pinch roller 25₁ presses the conveyor belt 12₁ against the driving roller 16₁ and rolls the conveyor belt 12₁ inward. A pressure to press the conveyor belt 12₁ against the driving roller 16₁ is set larger than the pressure to roll in the conveyor belt 12₁ so that it does not move away from the driven roller 17₁ when the pinch roller 25₁ rolls the conveyor belt 12₁ inward.

In this embodiment, a pressure to press the conveyor belt 12₁ against the driving roller 16₁ was set at 6 to 7 kg and a pressure to roll in the conveyor belt 12 ₁ at 3 to 5 kg. This pressure to roll in the conveyor belt 12₁ directly becomes a tensile force of the conveyor belt. The driving roller 16₁ can be composed of a metallic roller using the pinch roller 25₁ as described above and therefore, the driving roller 16₁ of good outer diameter accuracy can be used. Further, when a metallic roller is used as the driving roller 16₁, it is possible to drive the conveyor belt 12₁ by the pinch roller 25₁ without slipping against the driving roller 16₁.

Next, the conveying means 200₂ in the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

In the second embodiment, a conveying means 200₂ is composed in such a construction that metallic rollers are used for driving roller 16₂ and driven roller 17₂ over which a conveyor belt 12₂ is put and the position of the driving roller 16₂ only is fixed. A pinch roller 25₂ composed of a rubber roller is pressed against the driving roller 16₂ from the outside of the conveyor belt 12₂.

The driven roller 17₂ is provided with a mechanism at the shaft of both sides of the roller to make the roller movable in the direction parallel to the conveying direction of the image receiving medium 8. That is, the driven roller 17₂ is pressed by a compression spring 18₂ in the direction reverse to the conveying direction of the image receiving medium 8 to apply a tensile load to the conveyor belt 12₂.

The mechanism to make the driven roller 17₂ movable in the direction parallel to the conveying direction of the image receiving medium 8 is composed of a slot provided on the frame and a driven roller holder 21₂ which is able to slide in the slot and holds the driven roller 17₂ in a rotatable state.

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a system using a pinch roller and FIG. 5 shows its front view. Both ends of the shaft of the pinch roller 25₂ are fixed to a bearing 26₂ in the rotatable state. This bearing 26₂ is fitted into a slot 32₂ of a belt frame 31₂. This slot 32₂ is provided in a state where the direction of the driving roller 16₂ becomes long. Therefore, the pinch roller 25₂ is movable in the direction to come in contact with/separate from the driving roller 16₂ while rotating.

A tension spring 29₂ (see FIG. 5) is hooked on this bearing 26₂ in the direction to apply a pressure to the driving roller 16₂. Therefore, the pinch roller 25₂ presses the conveyor belt 12₂ against the driving roller 16₂.

In the second embodiment, a pressure to press the conveyor belt 12₂ against the driving roller 16₂ was set at 6 to 7 kg and a force to apply tensile load to the conveyor belt 12₂ by the compression spring 18₂ was set at 3 to 5 kg. As a metallic roller can be used for the driving roller 16₂, a driving roller in good outer diameter accuracy can be used. Further, even when a metallic roller is used for the driving roller 16₂, it is possible to move the conveyor belt 12₂ by the pinch roller 25₂ without slipping against the driving roller 16₂.

As described above, use of the pinch roller 25₂ in a simple construction makes it possible to prevent the conveyor belt 12₂ from slipping against the driving roller 16₂ and eliminate an image color shift on the image receiving medium in the conveying direction due to the slip of the conveyor belt.

Next, a conveying means 200₃ in the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

In the third embodiment, a metallic roller is used for a driving roller 16₃ and a driven roller 17₃ on which a conveyor belt 12₃ is put. These rollers 16₃ and 17₃ are fixed and a winding roller 33₃, which is a rubber roller, is arranged while pressing it from the outside of the conveyor belt 12₃. The winding angle of the conveyor belt to the driving roller is set at below 180°.

FIGS. 6 shows a perspective view of a system using the winding roller 33₃ and FIG. 7 shows its front view. Reference number 34₃ shows a pair of winding roller bearings, 35₃ shows a pair of winding roller holders and 36₃ shows holes provided on the winding roller holders 35₃. The rotary shafts at both sides of the winding roller 33₃ are fixed to the bearings 34₃ in a rotatable state. The bearings 34₃ are fitted in the holes 36₃ of the winding roller holders 35₃, respectively.

These holes 36₃ are provided at positions parallel to the shaft of the driving roller 16₃. Each of the winding roller holders 35₃ is provided with a tensile spring 30₃ which gives a tensile force to the conveyor belt 12₃ by pressing the winding roller 33₃ against the inside of the conveyor belt 12₃. Therefore, the winding roller 33₃ is able to bring the conveyor belt 12₃ in contact with the driving roller 16₃ at a winding angle above 180°. A tensile force to be generated on the conveyor belt 12₃ when the winding roller 33₃ rolls the conveyor belt 12₃ in was so set that it becomes 3 to 5 kg.

Next, a conveying means 200₄ in the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

In the fourth embodiment, a metallic roller is used for a driving roller 16₄ and a driven roller 17₄ over which a conveyor belt 12₄ is put, and only the position of the driving roller 16₄ is fixed. A winding roller 33₄ which is a rubber roller, is fixed to press the conveyor belt 12₄ from its outside at the center of the driving roller 16₄ and the driven roller 17₄.

The driven roller 17₄ is provided with a mechanism which makes it movable in the direction parallel to the conveying direction of the image receiving medium 8 at the shaft at both sides of the roller. That is, the driven roller 17₄ is pressed by a compression spring 18₄ in the direction reverse to the conveying direction of the image receiving medium 8 to apply a tensile load to the conveyor belt 12₄.

The mechanism to make the driven roller 17₄ movable in the direction parallel to the conveying direction of the image receiving medium 8 is composed of slot 32₄ provided on the frame 31₄ and a driven roller holder 21₄ which is able to slide in the slot 32₄ and holds the driven roller 17₄ in the rotatable state.

FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of a system using a winding roller 33₄ and FIG. 9 shows its front view. Reference number 34₄ shows a bearing of the winding roller 33₄ and 31₄ shows a belt frame. Both ends of the shaft of the winding roller 33₄ are fixed to bearings 34₄ in a rotatable state. The bearing 34₄ is fitted in a hole provided on the belt frame 31₄. This hole is provided at a position where the winding roller 33₄ presses the conveyor belt 12₄ against the inside and it is parallel to the driving roller 16₄. Therefore, the winding roller 33₄ is able to bring the conveyor belt 12₄ in contact with the driving roller 16₄ at a winding angle above 180°.

In this fourth embodiment, the compression spring 18₄ is compressed as the conveyor belt 12₄ is pressed inward by the winding roller 33₄ to give a tensile load of 3 to 5 kg to the conveyor belt 12₄.

As a metallic roller can be used for the driving roller 16₄ when the winding roller 33₄ is used as described above, it becomes possible to use the driving roller 16₄ in good outer diameter accuracy. Further, even when a metallic roller is used for the driving roller 16₄, a large contact area between the driving roller 16₄ and the conveyor belt 12₄ can be made available by the winding roller 33₄ and therefore, it is possible to drive the conveyor belt 12₄ without slipping against the driving roller 16₄.

As described in detail in the above, use of the winding roller 33₄ in very simple construction makes it possible to move the conveyor belt 12₄ at a constant velocity without slipping between the conveyor belt 12₄ and the driving roller 16₄. Accordingly, it is also possible to eliminate the color shift on the formed images transferred on the image receiving medium 8 in the conveying direction of the conveyor belt 12₄.

Next, a conveying means 200₅ in the fifth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

FIG. 10 shows a perspective view of a system using a discharging roller 37₅. Reference number 38₅ is an AC power supply unit and 39₅ is a controller. A driving roller 16₅ is composed of a metallic roller with a conductive rubber wound around it and therefore it is conductive. The driving roller 16₅ is electrically earthed. A conveyor belt 12₅ is wound around the driving roller 16₅ and a conductive metallic discharging roller 37₅ is provided in contact with the conveyor belt 12₅.

The discharging roller 37₅ is arranged in contact with the conveyor belt 12₅. In this embodiment, the metallic discharging roller 37₅ is used but is not limited to a roller if it is conductive. For instance, a conductive brush, a conductive brush roller or a conductive plastic roller can be used. The discharging roller 37₅, is connected to an AC power supply unit 38₅ which is an AC voltage supply means for supplying AC voltage.

The AC power supply unit 38₅ is connected to the controller 39₅ which is a control means for controlling the AC power supply unit 38₅. The conveyor belt 12₅ passes through this discharging roller 37₅ with the rotation of the driving roller 16₅. The controller 39₅ controls the AC power supply unit 38₅ to supply AC voltage to the discharging 37₅ according to a preset program. As a result, the surface of the conveyor belt 12₅ charged to plus and the back side charged to minus are neutralized. Thereafter, the conveyor belt 12₅ is moved to a belt cleaning device 22₅ in the neutralized state. Thus, when the conveyor belt 12₅ is discharged and moved to the belt cleaning device 22₅, the belt can be easily cleaned. Further, as a result of this discharging, the image transfer can be made under the same charged condition of the conveyor belt 12₅ and it is unnecessary to change transfer voltage in a continuous image transfer.

As an example of application, it is possible to use the pinch roller 25₁ described in the first embodiment as the discharging roller 37₅. In this case, as the characteristic of the pinch 25₁, a material having a high coefficient of friction is needed and when a conductive rubber roller is used for the pinch roller 25₁, it becomes possible to construct a pinch roller which also serves as a discharging roller.

Further, in this case it is also necessary to make the pinch roller bearing or the pinch roller holder using an electrically insulated material in order to prevent the discharging voltage from flowing to the driving roller through the bearing.

As described in detail in the above, according to this fifth embodiment, it is possible to discharge the surface of the conveyor belt by a very simple mechanism without generating ozone.

Next, a conveying means 200₆ in the sixth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 to 16.

FIG. 12 shows the outline of the construction of a conveying means 200₆. Reference number 12₆ shows a conveyor belt, 16₆ shows a driving roller, 17₆ shows a driven roller, 46₆ shows a regulation belt, 18₆ A and 18₆ B show a first compression spring and a second compression spring to give a tensile force to the conveyor belt 12₆, and 21₆ shows a driven roller bearing. The regulation belt 46₆ is mounted or formed along an inner side at one end of the conveyor belt 12₆. The endless type conveyor belt 12₆ is driven by the driving roller 16₆ and the driven roller 17₆. The driven roller 17₆ gives a tensile force to the conveyor belt 12₆ when its bearing 21₆ is pressed by the first and the second compression springs 18₆ A and 18₆ B.

When a cause for generating a skid of the conveyor belt 12₆ was investigated to reveal that it was largely affected by a difference in pressures generated by the first and the second compression springs 18₆ A and 18₆ B. The results of this test are shown in FIGS. 13 and 14.

FIG. 13 shows the test result of amounts of skid per one turn of an endless type conveyor belt which was prepared by cutting a belt into several pieces in trapezoidal shape intentionally giving different peripheral lengths and connecting their ends to an endless conveyor belt. The axis of abscissa shows differences in peripheral lengths at the ends of a belt and the axis of ordinate shows amount of skid per one turn of the belt.

In this test, for the purpose of making clear an effect of only peripheral length of the belt, a precisely prepared weight is used for giving a tensile force to the belt. Further, the shorter peripheral length side was made as the plus side of skid direction of the belt. As a result, it is seen that the more larger a difference in peripheral lengths becomes, the more larger the skid becomes. Furthermore, it is also seen that the skid progresses at the shorter peripheral length side of the belt.

On the other hand, shown in FIG. 14 is amount of skid per one turn of the belt measured by changing a difference in loads applied at both sides, and a difference in spring loads generating a tensile force is shown. The axis of abscissa shows differences in spring loads generating tensile force and the axis of ordinate shows amount of skid per one turn of the belt on the axis of ordinates.

The graph in FIG. 14 shows "Difference in Spring Loads Generating Tensile Force". In this test, for the purpose of conducting the test by making the load difference clear, a precisely prepared weight was used.

Further, for the purpose of investigating an effect of load difference only, a belt manufactured precisely in micron unit on an experimental basis was used. Further, the side of the belt having a larger tensile force generating spring load applied was made as the plus side of skid direction of the belt.

As a result, it is seen that the larger a load difference becomes, the larger the degree of skid becomes correspondingly. Further, it is also seen that the skid of the belt progresses at the side with a larger belt tensile force generating spring load.

Now, these two test results can be summarized as follows:

(1) The skid of the belt progresses at the short peripheral length side.

(2) The skid of the belt progresses at the large load side.

On the other hand, it is impossible to make the peripheral lengths of the conveyor belts 12₆ completely equal on all actual apparatus. Further, it is also impossible to completely eliminate fluctuations of the first and the second compression springs 18₆ A and 18₆ B.

It was decided to control the direction of skid of the conveyor belt 12₆ based on the above results in this embodiment.

That is, as illustrated in FIG. 12, the endless type conveyor belt 12₆ put over the driving roller 16₆ and the driven roller 17₆ is made in the construction having a difference in its peripheral lengths at both sides of L1>L2 when the peripheral lengths at both sides are L1 and L2.

As a means for giving a tensile force to the conveyor belt 12₆, a tensioning mechanism 210₆ is composed of a first and a second compression springs 18₆ A and 18₆ B which are a first and a second tensioning members. That is, the first compression spring 18₆ A having a strong pressure P1 is arranged at the shorter peripheral length L2 side of the conveyor belt 12₆ and the second compression spring 18₆ B having a weak pressure P2 (P1>P2) is arranged at the longer peripheral length L1 side.

As a result of this construction, the conveyor belt 12₆ skids always to the first compression spring 18₆ A side having a strong pressure P1 at the shorter peripheral length L2 side.

On the other hand, a regulation belt 46₆ is provided along the peripheral edge of the conveyor belt 12₆ with the second compression spring 18₆ B having a weak pressure P2 arranged at the longer peripheral length L1 side. And, by bringing this regulation belt 46₆ in contact with the end of the driven roller 17₆ (or the driving roller 16₆), the skid of the conveyor belt 12₆ is prevented.

The construction of this regulation belt 46₆ is as shown in FIGS. 15A to 15C. That is, this regulation belt 46₆ is in the thick belt shape and provided along the back side of the peripheral edge of the conveyor belt 12₆ with the second compression spring 18₆ B arranged.

As the conveyor belt 12₆ always skids to the first compression spring 18₆ A side having the strong pressure P1 at the shorter peripheral length L2 side, after a time "t" passed shown in FIG. 15B from the initial state shown in FIG. 15A, the regulation belt 46₆ runs against the end of the driven roller 17₆ to prevent the further movement of the conveyor belt, which is then brought in the balanced state.

FIG. 16 shows the result of the skid of the conveyor belt when the measures described above were not taken and FIG. 17 shows the result of the skid of the conveyor belt when the measures described above were taken.

As the results of this test, running times of the belt shown in "Test Time (Second)" are plotted on the axis of abscissas and "Running Position (μm)" showing amounts of the skids of the belt are plotted on the axis of ordinates.

As clear from these test results, the amount of the skid of the belt which was traveled without setting its mounting and pressure was large, the color shift of images on the image receiving medium 8 tends to occur in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt 12₆. However, the skid of the conveyor belt is very small when the belt was traveled with its mounting and pressure set, and it can be seen that the conveyor belt 12₆ was in the stable running state scarcely causing the color shift of images on the image receiving medium 8 in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt 12₆.

The test results shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 are one example. A further statistic test revealed that the same effect is obtained up to a difference in peripheral lengths of 2 mm of both sides of a belt if a difference in pressures applied is suppressed to accuracy of 1 kg according to the construction in the sixth embodiment. Accuracy of length ±0.01 mm and pressure ±50 g was demanded for a conventional belt and therefore, when a belt in this construction is used, it is possible to effectively control and restrain the skid direction without demanding high accuracy.

As described above, the conveying means in the sixth embodiment is capable of controlling the skid of the conveyor belt 12₆ in a very simple construction.

Next, a conveying means 200₇ in the seventh embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 18 to 23.

As illustrated in FIGS. 18 and 19, a tapered roller 17₇ is used as a driven roller. This roller is tapered so that its diameter is increased gradually to a large diameter from one end to another end. The regulation belt 46₇ is positioned at the small diameter side of the tapered roller 17₇ and mounted along the back side of the peripheral edge of a conveyor belt 12₇ in the same manner as in FIGS. 15A to 15C.

When the conveyor belt 12₇ is put over driving roller 16₇ and the tapered roller 17₇ which is a driven roller, the conveyor belt 12₇ skids toward the large diameter of the tapered roller 17₇.

In this case, on the conveyor belt 12₇ being pulled along the tapered roller 17₇, a tensile force F acting in the vertical direction is first generated on its inclined portion, which is above the inclined portion of the tapered roller 17₇ as illustrated in FIG. 20. When the conveyor belt 12₇ is moving, the tensile force F is divided into FH in the belt conveying direction and F_(V) in the vertical direction and these divided forces act on the conveyor belt. The direction F_(V) vertical to the conveying direction of the belt is the direction toward the large diameter of the tapered roller 17₇ and the conveyor belt 12₇ is moved one-sidedly toward the direction of the large diameter of the tapered roller 17₇ by this force F_(V). That is, the direction of the skid of the conveyor belt 12₇ can be controlled using the tapered roller 17₇ as a driven roller.

If the direction of the skid can be controlled, a single piece of the belt 46₇ is sufficient to restrain progress of the skid. That is, it can be achieved by providing the regulation belt 46₇ only at the inside of the conveyor belt 12₇ at its small diameter side.

That is, the conveyor belt 12₇ skids toward the large diameter side but when the conveyor belt 12₇ moves one-sidedly for a certain amount, the skid regulation belt 46₇ is slid to the roller end surface of the small diameter side of the tapered roller 17₇, stopping the further skid at a position where the skid force of the conveyor belt 12₇ is balanced with the rubber repulsive force of the guide 46₇.

Once these forces are balanced each other, the conveyor belt 12₇ is moved continuously in this balanced stated.

FIG. 21 shows a definite dimensional relation of the shape of the tapered roller 17₇ and the conveyor belt 12₇ which were used in the seventh embodiment. That is, the tapered roller 17₇ is 260 mm long and the conveyor belt 12₇ put on this tapered roller 17₇ is 258 mm wide. The diameter of the large diameter portion of this tapered roller 17₇ is 22.3 mm and that of the small diameter portion is 21.9 mm. Therefore, as shown by the following expression, this tapered roller 17₇ has a taper of 0.001538.

    22.3-21.9/260=0.001538

FIG. 22 shows the test result of skid of the conveyor belt when no measures described above were taken and FIG. 23 shows the test result of skid of the conveyor belt when the measures described above were taken.

As the result of this test, "Test Times (Sec.)" showing the running times of the conveyor belt were plotted on the axis of abscissas and "Running Positions (μm)" showing amount of skid of the conveyor belt were plotted on the axis of ordinates.

Therefore, the skid of the conveyor belt when it was moved without taking any measure is large while the color shift of images on the image receiving medium 8 tends to occur in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt 12₇. However, it is seen that the skid of the conveyor belt when it was moved with the tapered roller 17₇ and the regulation belt 46₇ provided is very small and the belt ran in the stable state scarcely causing the color shift of images on the image receiving medium 8 in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt 12₇.

The tapered roller 17₇ shown in this seventh embodiment is not needed to be applied as a driven roller, and when used as a third roller other than the driving roller 16₇ and the driven roller 17₇, its effect will not be changed. Further, it is also not required to have the tapered roller 17₇ act from the inside of the conveyor belt 12₇ and its effect is not changed even when it was acted on the surface of the conveyor belt 12₇.

Further, in this seventh embodiment the tapered roller 17₇ was described as a driven roller and its small diameter side end surface was explained as the surface contacting the regulation belt 46₇. However, not limited to these usages, the end surface of the driving roller 16₇ may be used as the skid prevention surface and even when a roller having an original skid prevention surface is provided, its effect will not be changed.

As described above, the skid of the conveyor belt 12₇ can be controlled by a mechanism in very simple construction.

Next, a conveying means 200₈ in the eighth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 24 to 28.

As illustrated in FIGS. 24 and 25, between the driving roller 16₈ and the driven roller 17₈ arranged parallel to each other, there is a diagonal roller 50₈ arrange diagonally to these rollers 16₈ and 17₈. That is, it is arranged so that its one end 50₈ A is close to the driven roller 17₈ and another end 50₈ B is close to the driving roller 16₈.

Further, this diagonal roller 50₈ is arranged slightly below the plane surface connecting a driving roller 16₈ and a driven roller 17₈ and functions as a skid moving direction control roller. A conveyor belt 12₈ is put over these driving roller 16₈, the diagonal roller 50₈ and the driven roller 17₄. On the other hand, a regulation belt 46₈ is provided along the side edge of the conveyor belt 12₈ having a longer distance between the driving roller 16₈ and the diagonal roller 50₈. The regulation belt 46₈ is in the construction as illustrated in FIGS. 15A to 15C.

In the conveying means 200₈ in this construction, when moved, the conveyor belt 12₈ progressively skids toward the end having a shorter distance between the diagonal roller 50₈ and the driving roller 16₈, that is, the conveyor belt 12₃ skids to the end 50₈ B of the diagonal roller 50₈.

As illustrated in FIG. 26, the conveyor belt 12₈ is first twisted by the diagonal roller 50₈ and a tensile force F is generated in the direction vertical to the central axis of rotation of the diagonal roller 50₈. In actual operation, this force F is divided into two forces which act in the belt conveying direction F_(H) and in the direction F_(V) vertical to the belt conveying direction. The direction F_(V) of the divided force is the direction for the shorter distance between the diagonal roller 50₈ and the driving roller 16₈ and by this force, the conveyor belt 12₈ is given a force to move skiddingly in the direction of a shorter distance between the diagonal roller 50₈ and the driving roller 16₈. That is, the conveyor belt 12₈ skids to the end 50₈ B side of the diagonal roller 50₈.

That is, it is possible to control the direction of skid of the conveyor belt 12₈ by providing the diagonal roller 50₈ which is not parallel to the driving roller 16₈.

If the direction of skid of the conveyor belt can be controlled, a single piece of the regulation belt 46₈ which controls progress of the skid is able to create its effect. That is, this is achieved when the belt 46₈ is provided only at the inside of the conveyor belt edge which has a long distance between the diagonal roller 50₈ and the driving roller 16₈.

That is, the conveyor belt 12₈ skids to the side with a shorter distance between the diagonal roller 50₈ and the driving roller 16₈ according to the diagonal roller 50₈. However, if the conveyor belt 12₈ moved skiddingly by a certain amount, the regulation belt 46₈ slides to the end surface of the driven roller 17₈ and the skid of the conveyor belt is stopped at a position where the skid moving force of the conveyor belt 12₈ is balanced with the rubber repulsive force of the regulation belt 46₈. Once both forces are balanced each other, the conveyor belt 12₈ continuously moves in this balanced state.

FIG. 27 shows the test result of the skid of the conveyor belt when no measures described above was taken and FIG. 28 shows the test result when the measures described above were taken.

As the result of this test, "Test Times (Sec.)" showing the running times of the conveyor belt were plotted on the axis of abscissas and "Running Positions (μm)" showing the amounts of the skids of the conveyor belt were plotted on the axis of ordinates.

Therefore, the skid of the conveyor belt without taking no measure is large and the color shift of the images on the image receiving medium 8 tends to occur in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt 12₈. However, the skid of the conveyor belt is very small when it was moved with the diagonal roller 50₈ and the regulation belt 46₈ provided and it can be seen that the conveyor belt 12₈ was running in the stable state scarcely causing the color shift on the images on the image receiving medium 8 in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt 8.

In this eighth embodiment, the diagonal roller 50₈ was arranged at the loose side of the conveyor belt 12₈. However, the effect of the diagonal roller 50₈ does not change even when the diagonal roller 50₈ is arranged at the tension side of the conveyor belt if a space is available.

Further, it is not necessary to have the diagonal roller 50₈ act from the inside of the conveyor belt 12₈ and its effect does not change even when the diagonal roller 50₈ is forced to act on the surface of the conveyor belt 12₈.

Further, the end surface of the driven roller 17₈ has been explained to be the surface contacting the regulation belt 46₈ in this eighth embodiment. However, the end surface of the driving roller 16₈ may be used as the skid control surface or when a roller having an original skid control surface is provided separately, its effect does not change at all.

As described above, the skid of the conveyor belt 12₈ can be controlled by a system in very simple construction.

Next, a conveying means 200₉ in the ninth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 29 to 34.

As illustrated in FIG. 29, the conveying means 200₉ is in the construction of L1>L2 when the peripheral lengths of both edges of an endless conveyor belt 12₉ put over the driving roller 16₉ and the driven roller 17₉ are L1 and L2.

As a means to give a tension to the conveyor belt 12₉, a tensioning mechanism 210₉ is provided, which is composed of a first and a second compression springs 18₉ A and 18₉ B as a first and a second tensioning members, respectively. That is, the first compression spring 18₉ A having a strong pressure P1 is arranged at the L2 side of a short peripheral length of the conveyor belt 12₉ and the second compression spring 18₉ B having a weak pressure P2 (PI>P2) is arranged at the L1 side of the long peripheral length.

As described in the sixth embodiment, as a result of this construction, the conveyor belt 12₉ always skids toward the length L2 side where the compression spring 18₉ A side having a strong pressure P1 is arranged.

On the other hand, a regulation plate 41₉ is provided along the edge of the conveyor belt 12₉ with the compression spring 18₉ A having a strong pressure P1 at the L2 side of a short peripheral length.

The regulation plate 41₉ kept in contact with the edge of the conveyor belt 12₉ prevents the skid of the conveyor belt 12₉.

That is, as illustrated in FIGS. 30A to 30C, the regulation plate 41₉ is arranged to penetrate the rotary shaft of the driving roller 16₉. As the conveyor belt 12₉ always skids toward the first compression spring 18₉ A having a strong pressure P1 at the L2 side of a short peripheral length, after elapsing "t" time shown in FIG. 30B, the edge of the conveyor belt 12₉ runs against the surface of the regulation plate 41₉, preventing the further movement of the conveyor belt 12₉ and the conveyor belt 12₉ is kept in the balanced state.

FIG. 31 shows the state of skid of the conveyor belt when it was run without the belt mounting and pressure setting made as described above and FIG. 32 shows the same when the conveyor belt was run with the belt mounted and pressure setting made as described above. As the results of this test, "Test Times (Sec.)" showing the running time of the conveyor belt is plotted on the axis of abscissas and "Running Positions (μm)" showing amount of skid of the belt is plotted on the axis of ordinates.

As clear from these test results, the amount of the skid of the conveyor belt is large when it was run without belt mounting and pressure setting made as described above and the color shift of the images on the image receiving medium 8 tends to occur in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt 12₉. However, it can be seen that it is very small when the belt was run with the belt mounting and pressure setting made as described and the conveyor belt was in the stable running state with scarcely causing the color shift of the image on the image receiving medium 8 in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt 12₉.

The test results shown in FIG. 31 and 32 are only one example. Further statistical tests conducted revealed that the same results are obtainable according to the construction of the conveying means in this ninth embodiment if a difference in peripheral lengths of both side edges of the belts is suppressed to 1.5 mm and a difference of pressures applied is suppressed to 0.8 kg. As for accuracy of the conveyor belt, ±0.01 mm for length and ±50 g were so far demanded and therefore, when this construction is used, it is possible to effectively control and restrain the direction of skid without demanding high accuracy for the conveyor belt.

FIG. 33 shows a conveying means 200₁₀ in the tenth embodiment. In order to make the edges of a conveyor belt 12₁₀ and a regulation plate 41₁₀ easy to slide, a surface 43₁₀ treated with a low frictional resistance is provided in their contacting area. A test result of frictional resistance of an unprocessed stainless steel plate with a PET film was 0.665. On the other hand, the coefficient of friction of an ordinary iron plate with a fluorine coating is 0.657 and therefore, it is possible to obtain an equivalent coefficient of friction from a fluorine coated iron plate even when an expensive stainless steel having a low frictional surface resistance is not used. Further, needless to say, a more low coefficient of frictional resistance can be obtained if stainless steel is coated with fluorine.

FIG. 34 shows a conveying means 200₁₁ in the eleventh embodiment and a sheet 44₁₁ of a low coefficient of friction is inserted between a skid control plate 41₁₁ and the edge of a conveyor belt 12₁₁. The sheet 44₁₁ of a low coefficient of friction is in somewhat large size and fixed to the skid control plate 41₁₁ by fixing adhesive tape 45₁₁. Further, the method for fixing the sheet 44₁₁ is not restricted and any other method can be used.

In the embodiments 9 to 11, regulation plates 41₉ to 41₁₁ are provided to the driving rollers 16₉ to 16₁₁ but they may be provided to the driven rollers 17₉ to 17₁₁ or along the entire edge of the conveyor belts 12₉ to 12₁₁.

As described above, in the ninth to the eleventh embodiments, an effective Control of skid of the conveyor belt can be achieved when the conveyor belt 12₉ to 12₁₁ is so arranged that the conveyor belt is running while at least a part of it is kept in contact with the regulation plate 41₉ to 41₁₁.

Next, a conveying means 200₁₂ in the twelfth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 35 to 38.

As illustrated in FIGS. 35 and 36, a tapered roller 17₁₂ of which diameter becomes larger gradually from one end to another end is used as a driven roller. A regulation plate 41₁₂ is provided along one edge of a driving roller 16₁₂ at the same side as the large diameter side of the tapered roller 17₁₂.

When the conveyor belt 12₁₂ is put over the driving roller 16₁₂ and the tapered roller 17₁₂, which is a driven roller, the skid will progress toward the larger diameter of the tapered roller 17₁₂ when the conveyor belt is moved as described in the seventh embodiment.

That is, as illustrated in FIG. 36, a tensile force F vertical to the inclined portion that is the tapered portion of the tapered roller 17₁₂ is first generated on the conveyor belt 12₁₂ being pulled along the tapered roller 17₁₂.

When the conveyor belt 12₁₂ is moving, this tensile force F is split into two: F_(H) acting in the belt conveying direction and F_(V) acting in the direction vertical to the belt conveying direction. The direction F_(V) of the split force vertical to the belt conveying direction is the direction toward the larger diameter of the tapered roller 17₁₂ and by this force F_(V), the conveyor belt 12₁₂ is moved one-sidedly in the direction of the larger diameter of the tapered roller 17₁₂. That is, the direction of skid of the conveyor belt 12₁₂ is controlled using the tapered roller 17₁₂ as a driven roller and the movement is regulated by the regulation plate 41₁₂ provided at the larger diameter side of the tapered roller 17₁₂.

When the skid of the conveyor belt 12₁₂ progressed to a certain amount, the regulation plate 41₁₂ and the outer edge of the conveyor belt slide and the skid is stopped at a position where the skid moving force of the conveyor belt 12₁₂ is balanced with a reactive force of the regulation plate 41₁₂. Once both forces are balanced, the conveyor belt 12₁₂ is moved in this balanced state.

FIG. 37 shows the test result of the skid moving state when the conveyor belt was run with no measure taken and FIG. 38 shows the test result of the skid moving state when the conveyor belt was run with the tapered roller 17₁₂ and the regulation plate 41₁₂ provided.

As the results of this test, "Test Times (Sec.)" showing running times of the conveyor belt is plotted on the axis of abscissas and "Running Position (μm)" showing the amount of skid of the belt is plotted on the axis of ordinates.

As can be seen from these test results, the amount of skid of the conveyor belt is large and the color shift of the images on the image receiving medium 8 tends to occur in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt when no measure was taken. But, the amount of skid is very small when the conveyor belt 12₁₂ was run with the tapered roller 17₁₂ and the regulation plate 41₁₂ provided and the conveyor belt is in the stable running state without scarcely causing the color shift of the images on the image receiving medium 8 in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt.

The tapered roller 17₁₂ shown in the twelfth embodiment is not necessarily to be used as a driver but can be used as a third roller other than the driving roller 16₁₂ and the driven roller as its effect will not be changed. Further, it is also not necessary to have the tapered roller 17₁₂ act from the inside of the conveyor belt and its effect will not be changed even when it is acted on the surface side of the conveyor belt 12₁₂.

As described above, it is possible to efficiently suppress the skid of the conveyor belt by a system in very simple construction.

Next, a conveying means 200₁₃ in the thirteenth embodiment with reference to FIGS. 39 to 42.

As illustrated in FIGS. 39 and 40, there is a diagonal roller 50₁₃ provided between a parallelly arranged driving roller 16₁₃ and a driven roller 17₁₃ not parallelly but diagonally to these rollers 16₁₃ and 17₁₃. That is, the diagonal roller is so arranged that one end 50₁₃ A of the diagonal roller 50₁₃ A is close to the driven roller 17₁₃ side and another end 50₁₃ B is close to the driving roller 16₁₃. Furthermore, this diagonal roller 50₁₃ is arranged at a position somewhat below the plane surface connecting the driving roller 16₁₃ and the driven roller 17₁₃ and functions as a skid control roller. The conveyor belt 12₁₃ is put over the driving roller 16₁₃, the diagonal roller 50₁₃ and the driven roller 17₁₃. On the other hand, a regulation plate 41₁₃ is provided along one side edge of the conveyor belt where a distance between the diagonal roller 50₁₃ and the driving roller 16₁₃ is short. The regulation plate 41₁₃ is in the construction as illustrated in FIGS. 30A to 30C.

In the construction described above, the conveyor belt 12₁₃ moves one-sidedly toward the end of the diagonal roller 50₁₃ of which distance to the driving roller 16₁₃ is short. That is, the conveyor belt 12₁₃ moves one-sidedly toward the end 50₁₃ B of the diagonal roller 50₁₃.

In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 40, the conveyor belt 12₁₃ is first twisted by the diagonal roller 50₁₃ and a tensile force F is generated in the direction perpendicular to the central axis of rotation of the diagonal roller 50₁₃. In actual operation, this force F is split and acts in the belt conveying direction FH and the direction F_(V) vertical to the belt conveying direction. The direction F_(V) of a force split in the direction vertical to the belt conveying direction is a direction of a short distance of the diagonal roller 50₁₃ to the driving roller 16₁₃ and by this force the conveyor belt 12₁₃ is given a force to move one-sidedly in the direction of a short distance of the diagonal roller 50₁₃ to the driving roller 16₁₃. That is, the conveyor belt 12₁₃ moves skiddingly to the end 50₁₃ B side of the diagonal roller 50₁₃.

That is, it is possible to control the skid direction of the conveyor belt 12₁₃ by providing the diagonal roller 50₁₃ which is not parallel to the driving roller 16₁₃ and to control the further skid by the regulation plate 41₁₃.

In other words, the conveyor belt 12₁₃ moves skiddingly to the short distance side between the diagonal roller 50₁₃ and the driving roller 16₁₃ following the diagonal roller 50₁₃ but when the conveyor belt 12₁₃ moves skiddingly to a certain distance, the outer peripheral edge of the conveyor belt slides on the regulation plate 41₁₃ and the skid of the belt is stopped at a position where the skidding force of the conveyor belt 12₁₃ is balanced with the reaction of the regulation plate 41₁₃. Once both forces are balanced, the conveyor belt 12₁₃ moves continuously while kept in this balanced state.

FIG. 41 shows the test result of the skid of the conveyor belt when the measures described above were not taken and FIG. 42 shows the same with the measures described above taken.

As the results of this test, "Test Time (Sec.)" showing the belt running times is plotted on the axis of abscissas and "Running Positions (μm)" showing amount of skid of the belt is plotted on the axis of ordinates.

Therefore, skid of the conveyor belt arranged without taking any measure is large and the color shift of the images tends to occur on the images on the image receiving medium 8 in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt 12₁₃. However, the skid of the conveyor belt 12₁₃ is very small when the diagonal roller 50₁₃ and the regulation plate 41₁₃ are arranged and it is seen that the conveyor belt 12₁₃ is in the stable running state scarcely causing the color shift of the image on the image receiving medium 8 in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt.

In the thirteenth embodiment, the diagonal roller 50₁₃ was arranged at the loose side of the conveyor belt 12₁₃. However, the effect of the diagonal roller 50₁₃ will not be changed even when it is arranged at the stretched side of the conveyor belt 12₁₃ if a space is available.

Further, it is not necessary to have the diagonal roller 50₁₃ act from the inside of the conveyor belt 12₁₃ and the effect of the diagonal roller 50₁₃ does not change when the diagonal roller 50₁₃ is forced to act on the surface side of the conveyor belt 12₁₃.

As described above, it is possible to suppress the skid of the conveyor belt 12₁₃ by a system in very simple construction.

Next, a conveying means 200₁₄ in the fourteenth embodiment with reference to FIGS. 43 to 50.

Here, only those portions differing from the construction illustrated in FIG. 1 are referred to in the description of the first embodiment will be described and the explanation of the same portions will be omitted.

FIGS. 43 and 44 show the state where a belt unit frame 58 is lifted by a lifting lever in the image forming operation so that the photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK and the conveyor belt 12 are brought in contact with each other in the prescribed state.

FIG. 45 shows the state where the lifting lever was lowered and the conveyor belt 12 was separated from the photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK. Under this state where the conveyor belt 12 is separated from the photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK, the conveyor belt unit including the conveyor belt 12 can be pulled out of the body of the image forming apparatus to the outside. If the image receiving medium 8 is jammed in the apparatus, the belt unit including the conveyor belt 12 is pulled out of the body of the apparatus to the outside when taking out this jammed image receiving medium 8.

The belt unit is supported by a first lifting lever 52 provided at the front and rear sides of the paper supply side and a second lifting lever 53 provided at the front and rear sides of the paper exit side, total four levers. The first lifting levers 52 provided at the front and the rear sides illustrated in the figure are connected by a first rotating shaft 54 and rotate at the same angle. Further, the second lifting levers 53 at the front and the rear sides shown in the figure are connected by the second rotating shaft 55 and rotate at the same angle. Further, the first lifting levers 52 and the second lifting levers 53 are connected mutually at the front side and the rear side, respectively. The first rotating shaft 54 is provided with a handle 57 at its end. A first rotating shaft 54 and a second rotating shaft 55 are supported in the rotatable state on the body of the apparatus. When the handle 57 is rotated, the first rotating shaft 54 rotates and thus, the first lifting levers 52 at the front and the rear sides are rotated. When the first lifting lever 52 is rotated, the connecting link 56 is pulled in the rotating direction, and the second lifting lever 53 is rotated. The belt unit frame 58 is lifted to the photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK side when the first and the second lifting levers 52 and 53 are rotated.

In the image forming, the image forming apparatus is kept in the state where the handle 57 is rotated, that is, the belt unit frame 58 is lifted. The lifting levers have been designed to have lengths so that the conveyor belt 12 and the photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK are maintained in the prescribed state where they are kept in contact with each other. In processing the jammed image receiving medium 8, when the handle 57 is rotated in the reverse direction to make the lifting levers level, the belt unit frame 58 goes down and the photosensitive drums 2Y, 2M, 2C and 2BK are separated from the conveyor belt 12 as illustrated in FIG. 45.

For a motor for driving the conveyor belt 12, an outer roller motor, which is in a construction that the motor body is contained in a roller and its housing is rotated, was adopted. Hereinafter, this motor will be described by referring it as a roller-in motor 61.

The conveyor belt 12 is put over a roller 61a, which is a rotating housing of the roller-in motor 61, and the driven roller 17, which is rotated with the movement of the conveyor belt.

First, the principle of the motor will be briefly described. FIG. 46 is a diagram showing Fleming's left hand rule and FIG. 47 is a diagram showing the principle of a DC motor.

Motors called electric motors are all in a construction to run by converting electric energy into mechanical energy and generating turning force (torque) by electromagnetic force. The most basic electromagnetic force is according to Fleming's left hand rule illustrated in FIG. 46 and when current I is flown through a conductor in length l placed in the magnetic field B, a force F acting on the conductor is obtained.

A motor is manufactured on the basis of this principle and a DC motor illustrated in FIG. 47 rotates according to the principle described below. When a current is applied to a coil in the magnetic field in the direction shown in the figure, a downward force acts on a conductor x and an upward force acts on a conductor y and these conductors x, y are rotated clockwise. However, if this state is left as it is, the directions of the downward and upward forces are reversed when the conductors x, y are rotated to the opposite side and they are not rotated. So, when the conductors x, y are moved from under the N pole to the S pole and from under the S pole to the N pole, the current direction is reversed by a rectifier mechanism comprising commutator segments connected to the rotating conductors x, y and fixed brushes which are slide contacting the commutator segments, thus generating turning forces in the same direction. Actual motors are in a construction that a number of conductors and commutator segments are provided in order to increase the space utilization rate and to make generation of torque smooth and conductors are contained in the grooves of cores.

FIG. 48 shows a diagram of the principle of construction of a stepping motor used in this fourteenth embodiment and FIG. 49 shows a diagram of the principle of operation of the stepping motor. The stepping motor is a motor that rotates one step at a time at a fixed angle to input pulse and is also called a pulse motor or a step motor. In FIG. 49, if the phase A only is excited, magnetic flux becomes maximum when the rotor tooth comes under the tooth of the winding of phase A and the motor stops at the position (1). When the excitation is switched to the phase B successively, a force acts in the arrow direction and the motor stops at the position (2) and when switched to the phase C, the motor proceeds to the position (3). Thus, the motor rotates a fixed step at a time (the basic step) when the excitation of the phase A/B/C is repeated.

In this fourteenth embodiment, the roller-in motor which is composed of this stepping motor is used. To be concrete, this motor is in such a construction that the outer rotor is rotated with the motor shaft fixed. This motor is generally called as an outer rotor type motor. When this outer rotor type motor is used, the outer rotor can be used as a roller. Further, the cross sectional area becomes small as the motor body is housed in the roller but the depth of the motor can be extended to the roller length. Therefore, a more cross sectional area can be obtained by an area corresponding to the depth although magnetic flux of an inner magnet per unit becomes small. It is generally said that in order to get an increased torque that is obtained when the outer diameter of a motor is made double by extending the depth of the motor, three times of the depth is needed. In the case of this embodiment, the outer rotor type motor was in a shape of φ50×30 mm. As the driving roller is φ25×290 mm, the cross sectional area is 1/4 and the depth is about 10 times. Now, to make it easy to think, when judging based on the sectional area of the driving roller, a length of 6×30 mm is required for the depth from 2:3=4:X, X=6. That is, this means that a motor in φ50×300 mm and a motor in φ25×180 mm are able to generate the same torque. In this embodiment, from a 290 mm long driving roller, a motor in φ25×290 mm is able to have a torque of 1.6 times of that of a motor in φ25×180 mm. Thus, by housing a motor in a roller, it is possible to increase a motor torque without affecting a size of an apparatus.

FIG. 50 shows a block diagram of the roller-in motor control. A system controller 70 is for controlling the entire apparatus. A reference clock generator 71 generates a reference clock and a divider 72 divides the reference clock from the reference clock generator 71. A PLL circuit 73 outputs driving pulses corresponding to a signal from the divider 72 and an encoder signal from the roller-in motor 61. A roller-in motor controller 74 controls the running of the roller-in motor by driving a roller-in motor driver 75 corresponding to the driving pulses from the PLL circuit 73. The divider 72 is used to generate clock widths that are easily controllable by the roller-in motor 61. A rotary encoder 76 as a rotary fluctuation detector is housed in the roller-in motor 61. The PLL control is to control driving control waveforms and output waveforms from the encoder 76 so that they agree with each other.

As described above, when an outer rotor type motor housing the motor body in the conveyor belt driving roller is used, it becomes possible to increase the motor torque without affecting the image forming apparatus. Further, differing from conventional motors, there is no occupying area at the outside of the conveyor belt and it becomes unnecessary to avoid the motor cross sectional area when processing jammed papers and there is a merit that image forming apparatus can be down sized.

According to this fourteenth embodiment, it is possible to eliminate an occupying area for an independent motor and easily increase the motor torque when roller-in type conveyor belt driving motors are adopted. Furthermore, it is not necessary to evade the conveyor belt unit largely when processing jammed papers. Thus, an image forming apparatus which does not become large in size. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An image forming apparatus comprising:means for forming images on a plurality of image carriers; a conveyor belt having a first peripheral edge and a second peripheral edge opposing the first peripheral edge for carrying an image receiving medium, the conveyor belt having a first length L1 at the first peripetal edge and a second length L2 at the second peripheral edge shorter than the first length L1; a plurality of rollers on which the conveyor belt is mounted for moving the conveyor belt to convey the image receiving medium sequentially to the image carriers; a tensioning means for giving a tension to the conveyor belt so as to skid the conveyor belt toward the second peripheral edge when the conveyor belt is moved by the rollers; a regulation member for regulating the skid of the conveyor belt; and means for transferring the images from the image carriers to the image receiving medium conveyed by the conveyor belt.
 2. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tensioning means includes a first tensioning member having a first pressure P1 arranged near the second peripheral edge and a second tensioning member having a second pressure P2, weaker than the first pressure P1, arranged near the first peripheral edge.
 3. An image forming apparatus comprising:means for forming images on a plurality of image carriers; a conveyor belt for carrying an image receiving medium; a plurality of rollers on which the conveyor belt is mounted for moving the conveyor belt to convey the image receiving medium sequentially to the image carriers, the rollers including a tensioning roller having a contact surface non-parallel to another roller for giving a tension to the conveyor belt so as to skid the conveyor belt toward one end of the rollers when the conveyor belt is moved; a regulation member for regulating the skid of the conveyor belt; and means for transferring the images from the image carriers to the image receiving medium conveyed by the conveyor belt.
 4. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the tensioning roller includes a diagonal roller diagonally arranged between a pair of other rollers.
 5. An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the tensioning roller includes a tapered roller having a diameter gradually increased in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the conveyor belt to form a first diameter at one end thereof and a second diameter at another end thereof smaller than the first diameter. 